Before the election Lincoln served as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War.

Before the 2002 election FC Bayern General Manager Uli Hoeneß expressed his support for Stoiber and the CSU.

Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany ( 1917 – 1929 ), and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany.

Before his election as Pope, he served as Bishop of Caere, which made his election controversial, because, at this stage of history, a bishop was expected never to leave office to move to another see.

Before his election to the papacy, he had previously served as Bishop of Sutri.

Before his papal election, Cardinal della Rovere was renowned for his unworldliness and had even written learned treatises entitled On the Blood of Christ and On the Power of God.

Before Reagan's election, supply side policy was considered unconventional by the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

Before the 2008 presidential election he said, " On social issues, I lean Libertarian, minus the crazy stuff ," but said in December 2011 that if he were president he would do whatever Bill Clinton advised him to do because that " would lead to policies that are a sensible middle ground.

Before Harding's election, the nation had been adrift ; President Woodrow Wilson had been ill by a debilitating stroke for eighteen months and before that Wilson had been in Europe for several months attempting to negotiate a peace settlement after World War I.

Before John XXII's election a contest had begun for the imperial crown between Louis IV of Bavaria and his opponent, Frederick I of Austria.

Before his royal election, he was by inheritance Duke of Swabia ( 1147 – 1152, as Frederick III ).

Before this election, the United States had no chief executive.

Before the election, the War Democrats joined the Republicans to form the National Union Party.

Before the 1923 election, he resolved his dispute with Asquith, allowing the Liberals to run a united ticket against Stanley Baldwin's policy of tariffs ( although there was speculation that Baldwin had adopted such a policy in order to forestall Lloyd George from doing so ).

Before Clay's election as Speaker of the House, the position had been that of a rule enforcer and mediator.

Before the 1966 election, the widow ’ s pension was tripled and redundancy payments for laid-off workers were introduced.

Before and shortly after this election, the HZDS supported the creation of a looser federation — a confederation — between the two republics.

Before the 2002 election, former Moderate Party MP Sten Andersson defected to SD, citing that the party had gotten rid of its extreme right elements.

Before the election of 2004, Karzai led the country after being chosen by delegates of the Bonn Conference in December 2001 to head an interim government after the removal of the Taliban Emirate.

Before 2010, commissioners were elected on a nonpartisan basis, but Sullivan County's commission election became a partisan election in 2010 after the county Republican Party decided to conduct a primary election for commission seats.

Before the 2010 United Kingdom general election it was divided into three constituencies contained wholly within the borough-Brent South, Brent East and Brent North.

* The Chinese Buddhist monk Huiyuan, who founded the Pure Land Buddhism sect and the monastery on Mount Lushan, writes the book On Why Monks Do Not Bow Down Before Kings in this year.

Before the Roman conquest of northern Gaul, Reims, founded circa 80 BC as * Durocorteron (" round fortress "; in Latin: Durocortōrum ), served as the capital of the tribe of the Remi — whose name the town would subsequently echo.

Before 1800, its free black community founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church ( AME ), the first independent black denomination in the country, and the first black Episcopal Church.

Before its fall, at the beginning of the 10th century Akan migrants moved southward then founded several nation-states including the first great Akan empire of the Bono founded in the 11th Century and for which the Brong Ahafo region of Akanland is named after.

Before that Ansfried had founded the abbey of Thorn, near the present-day border between Belgium and the Netherlands.

Before the Satsuma City School System was founded, the schools that served Satsuma included Robert E. Lee Primary School ( Kindergarten through 2 ), Robert E. Lee Intermediate School ( 3 through 5 ), North Mobile County Middle School ( 6-8 ), Satsuma High School ( 9-12 ).

Before Bellevue was founded, the area was used for hunting, fishing, and warfare by Native Americans tribes such as the Illini, Miami, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Tuscarora.

Before 1984, the area was administrated by the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders < sup > NL </ sup > ( OLZIJ ) (), founded by the Dutch national government after the province of Flevoland was created.

Before James J. Hill bought the Great Northern Railway in 1879 and accepted the task of completing the line from Crookston to the Canadian border, a French-Canadian man founded a town named Louisa, after the French king, in the path of the railroad.

Before his death in 1838, Stevens founded the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, which laid out a regular system of streets, blocks and lots, constructed housing, and developed manufacturing sites.

Before the town was officially founded there was a restaurant where a cook with the surname Dunbar worked.

Before Deutsche Grammophon founded its own American branch in 1969, it had a distribution deal with American Decca until 1962 when distribution switched to MGM Records.

Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese Democratic Bloc.

Before he died, the Bishop recited his last words as a prophecy and founded the last legion of Britain, entrusting them with their standard ; a silver dragon with a purple tail.

Before the Ayyubid takeover, there were no schools for the Hanbali and Maliki denominations in Syria, but the Ayyubids founded separate schools for them.

Before The Masters was founded, the national amateur championships of the U. S. and the UK were considered majors along with the two national opens and only Bobby Jones has ever completed a grand slam with these.

Before 1949, there were five main department stores in Hong Kong and Shanghai: In Hong Kong: Lane Crawford-In 1850 founded by Thomas Ash Lane and Ninian Crawford, opened in Des Voeux Road Hong Kong ; Wing On-In 1907 Kwok's family returned to Hong Kong from Australia with accumulated savings and founded the Wing On Company ; Sincere-Founded by Ma Ying Piu in 1900 after returning from Australia and partnership with others to form the first Chinese department store in then British Hong Kong.

Before the NWA was founded in 1948, there existed many regional professional wrestling promotions across North America ( each promoting its own " World " champion ).

Before about the 1840s, reporting on music was either done by musical journals, such as Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung or the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik ( founded by Robert Schumann ), and in London such journals as The Musical Times ( founded in 1844 as The Musical Times and Singing-class Circular ); or else by reporters at general newspapers where music did not form part of the central objectives of the publication.

Before the 2002 presidential campaign, the supporters of President Jacques Chirac, divided in three centre-right parliamentary parties, founded an association named Union on the Move ( Union en mouvement ).

Before joining Square Co., Ltd., Toshiro Tsuchida worked for Japanese development studios Masaya and G-Craft, the latter of which he founded in 1993 after leaving Masaya.